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WASHINGTON – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a vote before November elections on whether to extend tax cuts for those with annual income over $250,000 a year, she said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

"The tax cuts for the wealthiest ... (with income of) $250,000 and above, were the Bush initiative," Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week," referring to former President George W. Bush.

"I don't see any reason why we should renew a tax cut that only gives a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America, increases the deficit, and doesn't create jobs," Pelosi said. "That doesn't make any sense."

Asked directly whether she would push for a House vote before the November 2 election on whether to extend tax cuts for the middle class while letting those for wealthier citizens expire, Pelosi replied, "It would be my hope."

"The Republicans want to have the tax cuts and they want it unpaid for, $700 billion added to the deficit for an initiative that does not create jobs," Pelosi said.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the federal government should simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire.

"I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money," he said. "And the problem that we've come to in recent years is spending programs are funded with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money. At the end of the day that proves disastrous."

When asked if he agrees with Republicans who say that tax cuts pay for themselves, Greenspan, who led the U.S. central bank for nearly 20 years, simply said: "They do not."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told "Meet the Press" that he believes the tax cuts should continue "for another couple of years."

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, appearing alongside Bloomberg and Greenspan, said the cuts should be phased out but the plan for doing so should be decided after the Congressional elections in order to lessen political battles between the parties.

A MODEST RECOVERY OR A QUASI-RECESSION?

Bloomberg said that the economy was in a state of paralysis because workers, corporate leaders, small business owners and political figures all feel great uncertainty.

Greenspan described the current state of the U.S. economy as a "pause in our recovery, a modest recovery, but a pause in a modest recovery feels like a quasi-recession."

While there are signs that the U.S. economy is pulling out of the recession that began in 2007, the country's unemployment rate continues to brush up against the double digits. It was 9.5 percent in June and analysts polled by Reuters expect government data to be released on Friday to show the rate inched up to 9.6 percent in July.

Greenspan said he expects the unemployment rate to maintain that high level until the end of the year.

Bloomberg said the recession has touched all Americans.

"If they haven't lost their job, they know someone who has," he said.

President Barack Obama has spent the last week trying to show how his government has helped the economy recover. The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board recently said the $862 billion economic stimulus plan Obama pushed through Congress within a month of taking office saved or created 755,454 jobs from last April through June.

"When I look back on what we've accomplished in the last 18 months -- preventing the country sinking into a Great Depression, stabilizing the financial market, saving the U.S. auto industry, oh and by the way, passing healthcare, I'd say that's a pretty good track record," Obama said on Sunday in an interview with CBS. "But until the unemployment rate is down and the economy is where it needs to be, I'm not going to be satisfied."

"The tax cuts for the wealthiest ... (with income of) $250,000 and above, were the Bush initiative," Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week," referring to former President George W. Bush.

"I don't see any reason why we should renew a tax cut that only gives a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America, increases the deficit, and doesn't create jobs," Pelosi said. "That doesn't make any sense."

Asked directly whether she would push for a House vote before the November 2 election on whether to extend tax cuts for the middle class while letting those for wealthier citizens expire, Pelosi replied, "It would be my hope."

Does she even understand what's coming out of her mouth? If she's so confident that those Bush tax cuts were only for the wealthy, then why even hold a vote at all? Why not simply let them expire?

I see we also have two other jokers: Greenspan and Rendell. Greenspan should be ignored since he basically presided over two market bubbles, the dot-com and housing bubble. He could have stopped both by simply either adhering to his old 1960s ideas and let the market take care of the rates (they would have risen as the market went up, stopping some of the over-speculation) and keeping the Fed out of the way or if he still wanted an interventionist role, he could have raised the rates himself. Instead, he didn't raise them until 2000, and then he lowered them to ridiculously low amounts in in 2001. Part of this was due to 9/11, but they stayed at a low level well into 2004. But by the time they started rising in 2005, it was too late, the housing industry had ballooned enormously and the resulting pop is part of the reason why we're in this recession today.

Rendell is simply another tax and spend idiot that was responsible for delaying the PA budget last year for over 100 days (or something like that) because he wanted more tax hikes in the bill. But even before that, it was evident that he had a crappy governorship.

His approval rating today is something like 35%. Philadelphia likes him because that's where he sent all the freebies to. For instance, in the current budget, he cut millions more for public libraries, yet allocated $10 million for an Arlen Spector library in, you guessed it, Philadelphia. Like that doofus needs to be remembered. As such, Rendell should be disregarded the same way.

"The Republicans want to have the tax cuts and they want it unpaid for, $700 billion added to the deficit for an initiative that does not create jobs,"

WTF.com?!

Pay for what? The cuts don't spend anything you dumb bitch! They don't add to the deficit either. What adds to the deficit is SPENDING.

This is what kills me about Democrats. They feel they HAVE TO SPEND MONEY. How do people this dumb get elected to positions of power?

Furthermore, I didn't see a single word about crafting a law that extends any of the other cuts in the bills. She seemed to be saying that all they did was benefit the wealthy. Watch it folks. I'd put good money down that come the 1st of January we're all gonna see some massive hikes.

Last edited by djones520; 08-02-2010 at 11:52 AM.

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.

Pay for what? The cuts don't spend anything you dumb bitch! They don't add to the deficit either. What adds to the deficit is SPENDING.

This is what kills me about Democrats. They feel they HAVE TO SPEND MONEY. How do people this dumb get elected to positions of power?

Furthermore, I didn't see a single word about crafting a law that extends any of the other cuts in the bills. She seemed to be saying that all they did was benefit the wealthy. Watch it folks. I'd put good money down that come the 1st of January we're all gonna see some massive hikes.

These are the same people who are calling the stimulus a tax cut so . . . What on earth did you expect?? lol :p